John Lee Caloyloy, a student from Davao de Oro State College – Main Campus, beat out hundreds of entries from all over Southeast Asia en route to bagging the Gold in the opinion article writing competition of the 2024 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Virtual Student Opinion Competition (AVISOC).

 

Caloyloy’s winning article expertly tackled the polarizing issue of the proposed mandatory Reserved Officer Training Corp (ROTC) program for college students in the country.

 

DDOSC President Dr. Lilybeth M. Matunhay immediately congratulated Caloyloy on his impeccable achievement.

 

“John Lee’s international triumph is a testament to his dedication to honing his writing skills and his full grasp of the nuances of national issues. This also reflects the exceptional potential that the students of our college can reach,” Dr. Matunhay shared.

 

The AVISOC 2024, co-hosted by the Faculty of Administrative Science at Universitas Brawijaya (Indonesia), the School of Government at Universiti Utara Malaysia (Malaysia), the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Burapha University (Thailand), Tarlac Agricultural University (Philippines), and the Regional Centre for Lifelong Learning of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO-CELL from Vietnam), marked the first edition where all ASEAN countries were represented.

 

The competition is open to undergraduate students from universities and colleges across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

Caloyloy, a first year Bachelor of Secondary Education majoring in English, is also an active member of the DDOSC-Main Student Publication, the Golden Cornucopia.